When's It Gonna End?
by Not A Problem
Summary: CHAPTER 15! UPDATED! Georgie's a confused teenage girl who is madly in love. But there are some complications... A couple of chapters left! It's gonna end soon! Bear with me!
1. Why I am, what I am

**AN:** Hi. This is a new story I'm writing, hope you like it. It's a little confusing to understand everyone's age, and what grade they're going to, there might be some mistakes with the timing or whatever. Bu don't take any notice of that. Right now Ace and his gang and Georgie are in the last grade of high scool. And Chris and his gang are, well, let them be a year younger than Ace and his gang. And it's the 60's!!! Hope you like it.

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**When's it Gonna End**

"I'm ready. I'm ready," I thought to myself. "I can do this," I thought as I closed my eyes and kissed the boy who was eagerly waiting for his goodbye kiss. My lips touched his, alright. But not for long. I quickly opened my eyes and moved away from him. Without saying anything I turned back, and got into my house. He just stood there, not knowing what had just happened.

We never spoke again...

The extract above is what has been happening to me for the last year and a half. Everytime I think I'm ready, turns out I'm not. Let me explain why this has been happening.

We started out as friends. We were friends since the second grade, when I first moved here. I was a year younger than them, but I was moved up a grade because I was smart. We went to the same school, we always hung out together; but, we were only friends. I had absolutely no intention of becoming his girlfriend. It happened in the eighth grade. I switched schools and went to a private school, because my parents were rich. He still went to his old school. But we always hung out after school at the local diner. We sat on a table all together; me, him, Richie, Billy and Charlie. Those few hours everyday, after school were some of the best times I'd had in my life. They were stupid, but they were the funniest kids I'd ever met. And I like funny. But _he _was also smart. You could tell just by the way he spoke. When he was with his friends he acted stupid, because his friends were stupid. But around me, he was smart and funny. I love those two combinations. But at that time, like I told you, he was just my friend.

One day, we were sitting at the diner. It was a normal day. We were talking about music, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day and mainly Marilyn Monroe. The guys said she was a dumb blonde. But she was my favourite singer and actress. So I always got mad at them for making fun of her stupidity. Here's the conversation that took place. The conversation that changed my whole life.

"Come on, she always acts as dumb blondes!" Charlie said, leaning back in his seat.

"I suppose you've only seen one movie from her. "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." And her character was not dumb in that movie. She only acted dumb. At the end she explains her actions in a perfectly smart way. Go watch more films and then come back."

"No, I saw "Some Like it Hot" the other day," Charlie protested. "She was totally dumb in that one."

"Well, yeah, but that was totally the way her character was supposed to be. She's acting, for god's sake!"

"Shut up Charlie. The girl is right." Ace said and smiled at me. I laughed.

"Hey, Georgie?" Ace asked.

"Hmm?" I replied as I was drinking my milkshake.

"You know that song Marilyn Monroe sang in 'Ladies of the Chorus'? The famous one."

" 'Anyone Can See I Love You?' " I asked looking at him.

"Yeah," he just said, looking at me. I went back to drinking my milkshake.

"And the song she sings in 'Some Like it Hot.' The famous one."

"Um, 'I Wanna Be Loved By You'? I said.

"Yeah," he said, never taking his eyes off me. I went back to drinking my milkshake.

"You know the song Nat King Cole sang once. It goes something like: 'I spread my wings and then I'll fly, all around the city, the world's my sweet potato pie...."

"Uh, yeah, 'Crazy, But I'm in Love'. " I said looking up at him, confused.

"Yeah, that's it," he said, looking out of the window.

I looked at Charlie, Billy, and Richie and gave them a confused look. We all laughed. Then Ace turned to me suddenly.

"Will you go out with me?" he said, looking at me straight in the face. I laughed out loud.

"Yeah right, sure I will," I said still laughing.

"Georgina, I'm serious. Go out with me." I stopped laughing for a second, but then I laughed again.

"Okay, Ace," I said laughing. Billy, Charlie and Richie all laughed as well.

"Georgie, I love you," he said. Then we all stopped laughing. "Will you go out with me?" he asked again.

"Sure Ace," I said seriously. "I'll go out with you."

"I now pronounce you, officially dating," Richie said. Everyone laughed. I laughed a nervous laugh. And Ace, well, he didn't laugh at all.

That day, I went home and I thought about what happened. It'll only last a week, I thought. Ace changes girlfriends every week, I thought. Boy, was I wrong. It lasted almost 2 years. I was so in love with him. When we first started, I still thought of him as a friend. But in a month, I loved Ace more than anyone could ever imagine. But we had problems. He was a guy, and he wanted what any guy wanted from a girl. But I always had an excuse. Sure, we made love, but we didn't go any further than that. And Ace hated it, I could tell. But I knew he still loved me. I just knew. After a year or so, Ace started to cheat on me, with other girls from his school. I knew, because I had a friend in his school and she told me everything about it. And the ironic thing is that, a month later, she also had a thing with him. So I decided to do something about it.

When I first found out of his cheatings, I was furious. That little bastard, I thought. So, I went up to him and said:

"Look Ace, it's ok. I don't wanna break up with you over a little thing. I love you." And Ace always came back to me. This happened for three times. He cheated on me, and I always forgave him. But I didn't care. I just wanted Ace to be with me, so I didn't dump him. Because I knew he didn't really love those girls he fucked. He just needed a body. He really loved me.

But, one day, everything changed. _Jess_. Ace fell in love with Jess. Jess fell in love with Ace. I was in love with Ace. But now, I wasn't sure if Ace still loved _me_. Ace and Jess were sitting in the diner, talking. I came along and just sat with them. I looked at Ace, and he looked at me. Jess looked confused.

"I love you," I said to Ace.

"I'm with Jess now," Ace said.

"No, no. You love me too. Jess is just some girl who's gonna break up with you in a week. But I'll always love you Ace. Please," I pleaded.

"Who's she?" Jess asked Ace.

"You don't love him!" I screamed at her.

"Yeah I do. You don't know what you're talking about," she said and rolled her eyes.

"I love him more than you!" I screamed. I was acting like a baby that day. I don't know what came over me. But I was very much in love. So that explains it.

"Ace, choose between us. Is it me or her?" I asked.

He thought for a second and then answered. "I choose Jess."

My mouth dropped wide open, and I started to cry. All the kids in the diner were looking over at our table. I got up and tried walking to the door as proudly as I could. But I couldn't. It was only a couple of steps away from the door. If only I kept walking proudly, I could have saved my reputation of being a rich proud bitch, but I couldn't keep walking so I ran. I ran out of there sobbing. It was over.

Or, at least I thought it was.

A week later, Ace came back to me. And, naturally, I just opened my arms fo him. I was so happy he was back. I never wanted him to go again. So, we did it. We had sex. It was my first time, and it was good. But we didn't do it again. It was just this once, so he wouldn't leave me.

A month later, the girl I told you about before, my friend from Ace's school, Sarah, who always told me what Ace was up to, well, Ace fell in love with her. I was furious. She was my friend! And I was furious with Ace as well! But I still didn't want him to go.

But my friend, Sarah, did something unbelievable. She told Ace that she couldn't be with him. Because of me. She couldn't do this to me. I was very happy. But apparently, Ace wasn't. One day, he came up to me and screamed "I hate you, you stupid bitch!" in my face and turned around, and went away laughing with his friends. Charlie, Richie and Billy were there too, and they followed Ace and just looked at me and shrugged. I was shocked. But I didn't do anything about it.

One day, I saw Sarah and Ace together. I watched them and I saw something. I saw Ace really happy. He really loved Sarah. It was hard for me, but at the end, I let him go. Or, he let me go. I don't know. Here's what happened:

"Ace, I love you," I said.

"Get the hell out of my life Georgie!" Ace screamed.

"Please, don't do this," I pleaded. I hugged him. He pushed me away.

"I love Sarah! Not you! I love Sarah!" he said. I started crying. "Go back to your worthless life without me, you stupid bitch!" he screamed and walked away.

This time, it was over. For real. But a week later, I heard that Sarah dumped Ace. And Ace had nobody. I thought of talking to him, and I did, but on the phone.

"It's Georgie," I said when he answered the phone.

"Georgie? Uh, what's up?" he said awkwardly.

"Nothing. How are you?" I asked him.

"Fine," he said. Both of us just paused for 5 seconds. Then he said: "I'm not going out with you again Georgie." I was surprised at this remark. This wasn't the reason why I called him, but still, it broke my heart.

"Ok," I managed to say.

"Do you want to remain friends?" he asked.

"Yes!" I said a little too excited. Then I thought about it. And I said: "No!"

"Why the sudden change of heart?" he laughed. Oh, I loved him so much. But I just couldn't see him as a normal friend again. I loved him.

"I have to go," I said and hang up.

That was the last time we spoke. **Ever.** I still saw him around. And it broke my heart not speaking to him. Not being next to him. I still loved him.

It'd been a year and a half since our last telephone conversation, and as you can see from the first paragraph, I wasn't over Ace. **Yet.**

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**AN: **Review if ya want to. Tell me what you think.


	2. Georgie meets Chris

**AN:** Here's another chapter.

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I gave you the reason for my behaviour. But that's not all. I'm sick. Psychologically. But I have pills. The pills make feel me stupid, so I take as little as I can. At most, 3 times a day. One in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one at night, before I go to bed. Sometimes the pills lose their effect. So, my sickness emerges, at the most inappropriate situations, causing weirdness...

A month had gone by since the first day of school. This new kid from our school asked me out, I told you before. Usually nobody asks me out, but the kid was new. He didn't know anything about me. But by the end of the date, he knew he hated me. I just couldn't go through with it. All I thought about was Ace. Straight after the date, he probably told everyone about my actions because as I entered the classroom the next day, everyone looked at me.

"What?" I asked my good friend as I sat next to her. She moved her bag from the seat and let me sit down.

"He told us," she answered worriedly.

"I know, so what? Why is everyone looking at me like I murdered someone?"

"Don't ask me."

"You were looking too."

"You're stupid, you know that?"

"I know, I know. It's these pills."

"Please stop taking them, you're making me look bad."

"If I stopped, trust me, you'd look worse."

"I suppose," she simply said and started scribbling something on a piece of paper.

My friend, Isabelle Michelin. She's French. She's one of those cool, stylish, bitchy French people. And it's true that I make her look bad. But everybody adores her, and so, they adore me too because I'm her friend. She considers me as her best friend, but she never says it out loud. But I know.

Two more facts about her. Everyone loves to say her name and everyone loves to speak French with her. Especially the "language" teachers. Whether it be English, or, well, French.

Today in English class, it happened again.

"Isabelle Michelin. Viens avec moi," the teacher said as the bell rang.

"Mais, pourquoi?" Isabelle answered, annoyed.

"Ce n'est pas important. Viens!" the teacher would say. The sentence she would say when she didn't know the answer.

"Ah, for cryin' out loud," she would say everytime this happened.

Then they'd take her to the corridor and tell her she's doing a great job in their class and have a ten minute conversation with her in French. She'd miss most of the recess and only have enough time to go back in the class and sit down.

"It's another English teacher coming now," I smiled at her.

"Ah, for cryin' out loud," she said.

Literature. I hated that class. Actually, I loved it. But I never thought a teacher could actually make me hate reading. She makes reading seem so boring and the questions she asks about the stories are so irrelevant. Sometimes she doesn't even know what she's talking about. It's like she didn't understand the book herself, it's like she wasn't really an English teacher. The crap they make us go through...

Then the class ended.

"I had a great idea as the teacher was explaining the story!" Isabelle said, her eyes wide open.

"What?" I said, not interested, as I was writing down the homework on the board.

"Come!" she said as she got up and pulled me with her.

"Hey, I was writing something!" I moaned, and slowed her down.

"Vite! Vite!" she said and pulled me harder until we were out in the corridor. She slammed me into a locker and said: "We go to the diner after school!"

"And?" I said, not amused.

"And we stay there!"

"That's it?"

"Yeah."

"That's your idea?" I said, still not amused.

"Yeah," she said as if I was an idiot for not understanding the greatness of her idea.

"Why?" I questioned suddenly.

"Because..." she smiled her bitchy smiles.

"Teddy DuChamp," I said nodding my head.

"Yes!" she answered clapping her hands.

"You know you look like a monkey when you do that," I said, and started to go back to class.

"Come on! It'll be fun."

"Yeah for you. What am I gonna do? And Teddy, from what I've seen, is such an idiot. How can you even like him? And you're older than him. Wouldn't it be a little weird?"

"In France it's okay, besides, I'm older than you too," she said. Did I tell you she made good points?

That day, we went to the diner as planned. Isabelle was very excited about seeing Teddy. A couple of months earlier, during the summer holiday, Isabelle saw Teddy at the diner. He was trying to drink milk, and make it come out of his ears. But it only came out of his nose. For some reason, Isabelle found that very amusing, and, it was love at first sight. They weren't actually going out yet, because Teddy didn't know about Isabelle's feelings.

So that day, Isabelle decided to tell Teddy. Maybe not tell, but just talk to him and use her French charms to get her way. And I was sitting at the bar, drinking a milkshake, and just thinking, like always.

Isabelle sat at Teddy's table, with Teddy's friends. They were laughing like crazy. Then one of them got up and came to the bar.

"Can we have four cokes and a milkshake?" he asked the waitress, and turned and looked at me. I smiled and nodded my head. He smiled as well, and turned back and waited for the drinks.

"Aren't you Richie's kid brother?" I asked after examining him carefully. He turned to me and said:

"Yeah. We don't call him Richie anymore. He's Eyeball now." He carefully gathered the drinks in his arms and went back to the table.

"I know. I still call him Richie," I said after him quietely. He didn't say anything back, but after he put the drinks on the table, he got his own coke and came and sat next to me.

"Okay..." he said.

"Is something the matter?" I asked him.

"No."

"Your name's Chris right?"

"Yeah, and you're Georgina," he said and looked in my eyes for the first time since we started to talk.

"I prefer Georgie," I said and took a sip of my milkshake.

"I know," he said, and looked down again.

"So you're my age right?" I said, trying to make conversation.

"No I'm not. You're the same age as my brother. I'm a year younger than you," he said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"No you're not. I was moved up a grade because I'm smart," I said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Yeah?!" he looked up at me again.

"Yeah," I said nodding.

"All this time I thought you were a year older," he said quietely and looked down again.

"All this time?" I asked suspiciously.

"Since the beginning of our conversation, I mean," he answered quickly.

"Oh, okay," I said, disappointed. I don't know why.

**silence**

"Your brother's good friends with Ace, right? Does Ace still come around to your house or..?" I asked the question I was dying to ask.

"Yeah he does. I just get the hell out when he does. He's an idiot," he said angrily.

"No he's not," I said quietely and protectively.

"You still love him?" he looked up.

"Yeah. And I'm not afraid to say it," I really wasn't afraid. "Wait a sec, how'd you know about Ace?"

"Are you crazy? Everyone knows about you two," he said, not interested, playing with the coke bottle.

"What do you mean, everyone?!?? "

"Remember your fight in here a year or so ago."

"You were here too?" I replied shocked.

"The whole neighborhood was here. Great place to pick to have your little temper tantrum," he laughed.

"You're weird," I said without laughing.

"I know," he stopped laughing. "And so are you," he said.

"I know," I said.

"I guess we're meant for eachother, huh?" he smiled.

"Huh?" I looked at him, confused.

"Never mind," he said and looked down at his coke.

**silence**

_"This is a bad situation, god dammit. Get outta here!" _I blurted out.

"What?" Chris looked shocked when he heard that remark.

"Oh god. Sorry. I should go, before I say something stupid. I'll see you around. _I like you kid. Nice nose. _Dammit!Uh, goodbye!"

Weird situation. Like I said, when my pills lose effect, weird situations emerge. I haven't really told you my sickness yet. So here goes: Sometimes, I talk to myself. If I don't take my pills, I talk to myself all the time. It's really frustrating actually.

After the conversation with Chris, I quickly got out of the diner and walked home. All the way arguing with myself. I got home and went up to my room quickly. I hated being seen when I was talking to myself. Looks weird. I put a Marilyn Monroe record on, and turned the volume up. Then I stared in the mirror.

"I still can't believe you said that!"

"_I thought we talked this through. And I'm your thoughts, I'm not something completely apart from you. I'm just loud, that's all."_

"I can see that! God dammit! You embarrassed me. Chris is gonna think I'm weird."

"_He already thinks so."_

"Shut up!"

"_Look, I like him. Cute kid, dontcha think?"_

"Yeah, he looks alright."

"_But there's Ace..."_

"Exactly. I'm not over Ace. I try, you know I do."

"_Maybe you just haven't found the right person."_

"And you think Chris is?"

"_You think so too."_

"No I don't! How do you know what I think?"

"_God, you're an idiot."_

"I'm sick of you!"

"_Get over it. I think tomorrow you should go and talk to Chris some more."_

"I think I should too. But if I sense that he hates me, I'm out."

"_Uh oh, wait a second. We're forgetting something."_

"What?"

"_Chris is a Chambers kid. You're from The View, you can't mix with people like that!"_

"Oh come on! Ace wasn't from here too."

"_Ace was different. Ace was cool, he had style."_

"Yeah he did. But shut up! Since when do I care what someone's background is, or where they're from?"

"_You must care, because I said something about it."_

"God dammit. I'm getting rid of you!"

"_Sure. I'll be back though. When you least expect it!"_

"Any last words?"

"_I'll tell you next time."_

"Idiot."

And I gulped down the pill...

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** AN:** Ok from now on, whenever the writing is in _italic_, it's Georgie speaking to herself.


	3. Getting to know eachother

Isabelle must have gotten along greatly with Teddy and his gang, because we were going to meet them again today, after school. So we went there, and sat on a table and began to wait for them. After a couple of minutes they rushed in through the door, laughing hysterically. Vern wasn't laughing though. They spotted us and sat at our table. We got some drinks and just talked about ourselves and other stuff. Isabelle was always talking about herself. She'd talk about the interesting things that happened to her, and everyone was pretty much tired of her stories. But we couldn't say anything. She's a friend, so what can you do?

"So there I was in this hallway right?" Isabelle started.

"I believe I speak for all of us when I say..." Teddy started. Everyone was smiling.

"WRONG BITCH!" he screamed. Everyone stopped smiling. Our jaws dropped wide open.

"I'M SICK OF YOU! AND YOUR LAME STORIES. NOBODY HERE THINKS YOU'RE FUNNY. NOBODY WANTS TO HEAR YOUR STORIES. IN FACT, IF YOU DIED RIGHT NOW, I DON'T THINK NOBODY WOULD CARE! WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THAT, BITCH?"

Isabelle just stared at him, her eyes almost full of tears. Then she opened her mouth and said casually:

"Tu m'emmerde. Tu est vraiment dégueulasse. Tu est con, cinglé, agaçant, moche et dingue. Tu est un salaud, mais je t'aime. Fous le camp!"

Our jaws were still wide open. Teddy looked at Isabelle straight in the eye. And Isabelle looked back at him, her eyes full of tears, but not a single teardrop fell down. She didn't have any sense of feeling in her face. She just stared at him coldly. Teddy looked a little sad for saying all those stuff to Isabelle. And he was surprised that she didn't cry or leave. He looked hurt. After a while Isabelle started again:

"So there I was in this hallway right?" she said.

"Right."

"Right."

"Right," we all said and nodded. This time, it was Teddy's jaw that was wide open.

After her story, which was actually, like Teddy said, kinda lame. Everyone was okay with eachother. Teddy and Isabelle never actually spoke directly to each other and they were both felt a bit of regret about what had happened, but all was well.

"Hey, you know what sucks?" Teddy started.

"Vacuums," Isabelle stated.

"Hey, you know what sucks in a metaphorical sense?" Teddy asked again, looking at Gordie, Chris, Vern and me.

"Black holes," Isabelle said coldly. Teddy was a little pissed off.

"Hey, you know what just isn't cool?" Teddy asked impatiently.

"Lava?" Isabelle asked.

Everyone cracked up. Except Teddy and Isabelle. Isabelle was still looking at Teddy, and Teddy at her. They both had hate in their eyes. Or should I say, love......

"That was one of the most worthless comments I've ever heard," Teddy said finally to Isabelle, smiling. Isabelle smiled back.

We all stayed there for a couple of hours trying to get to know one another. It felt like old times for me. Just like a couple of years ago when me and Ace and the gang were sitting here, talking about stuff. But this could never come close to those good times. I don't think I'll ever have friends like them, ever.

"Gordie, wanna tell us a story?" Vern asked enthusiastically.

"What, is Gordie like the connoisseur of stories?" I asked looking at Gordie.

"No, he's a writer," Chris explained, looking at me. Gordie looked at him, raising his eyebrows. I had no idea what the hell was going on.

"Yeah," Gordie confirmed. "I kinda write."

"What do you mean, 'kinda'" Isabelle asked. Gordie smiled and looked down. Then he said smiling, a little embarrassed:

"Yeah, I write."

"Go on, tell us something," Chris said shaking Gordie, looking at me and smiling. Gordie and Chris exchanged looks. Finally Gordie decided to speak:

"Alright, I'll tell you guys a small story, I wrote this when I...."

"_Come on already!"_ I blurted out. Then quickly I got up, slapped my hands on the table and said:

"I gotta go."

"Why?" Chris said, suddenly, getting up with me.

"_Don't ask questions!"_

"What?" Chris asked. Teddy started laughing. Isabelle kicked him under the table. Teddy didn't say anything but looked at her with hate. (Or should I say love...)

"I gotta..." I started and just ran out the diner.

In order not to have any problems, I should take four pills a day. Also one after school, like at three o'clock. That way, when we go to the diner after school, I wouldn't have any problems. But I'd look so stupid. That's why I don't want to. It has side effects, ya know? I thought about not taking one when I go to sleep, because who's gonna be there when I go to bed right? Not so easy. I tried this once and I ended up talking and arguing to myself the whole night. I can't control my thoughts. I just say them out loud, and I answer them out loud. It's so frustrating!

It started after Ace. Thank God, it didn't start when I was with Ace, or I'd be very embarrassed. He's a cool kid, and you gotta act cool when you're with him. He's smart too, so I couldn't take my pills and act stupid around him. Right now it'd be useful though. Sometimes I saw him, and he really did act like an idiot. I just didn't wanna accept it. I argued about this topic with myself as I left the diner today. Even though today's disaster was a truly bad one, I still stuck with my three-pill-a-day program. Only if I had a really important thing to do after school, I'd take it. But this time, I'd probably screw up the "important thing" with my stupidity.

I was walking home from the diner, talking to myself.

"Who are you talking to," Chris said from behind, trying to catch up with me.

"Nobody," I said quickly covering my mouth up with my hands.

"Why'd you leave like that?" he asked looking concerned.

"No reason," I said quickly, lifting up my hands from my mouth just a little. Then I put them back again. We walked together without saying anything. I new if I took my hands away from my mouth, it would be a bad situation. I was thinking of a whole lot of things nobody should know about.

Chris looked at me and he looked like he was about to say something, then he turned away.

"Hey, uh, you wanna go somewhere tonight? He asked suddenly.

"Yes!" I blurted a little too loud. Chris looked surprised but smiled.

"Wanna meet at the diner?" he asked.

"Okay," I said, my hands still on my mouth. Chris looked at me weirdly but he didn't say anything.

"Okay," he said and stopped. I stopped with him. He turned around and started walking the other way. He waved as he walked.

"See you!" he yelled.

"Yeah, see you!" I yelled back.

"_What do you say to that?"_

"I'm not sure..."

"_What are you crazy? He's a nice kid."_

"I know."

"_You're gonna see how good it goes tonight. Trust me."_

"Yeah I'll trust you. I only trust myself anyway."

I went home and listened to Marilyn. One song she sang, had me worried for tonight. That's why I wasn't very enthusiastic about tonight. It goes something like this:

_I'm through with love, I'll never fall again,_

_Said "adieu to love, don't ever call again."_

_For I must have you or no one,_

_And so I'm through with love._

_I've locked my heart, I'll keep my feelings there._

_I've stocked my heart with icy frigidaire._

_And I mean to care for no one,_

_Because I'm through with love... _

**AN:** Translation for Isabelle: _"You piss me off. You're really a piece of shit. You're a bastard, a loony, you're crazy and annoying. You're a bastard, but I love you. Fuck off."_


	4. The date

As I was getting ready for the date, to my surprise, I wasn't thinking about Ace. I wasn't thinking about Chris either. I was just getting dressed. I was going to take an extra pill just for precaution as well. Nothing could go wrong tonight. It would be just a normal date. Eating at the diner and walking home.

"_What about the good night kiss?"_

"What about it?"

"_He's gonna want a kiss."_

"He'll get it."

"_You sure about that? That's what you said last time."_

"I know. I don't know. We'll see how it goes. Right now I gotta go." I gulped down the pill and went out.

Chris was waiting at the diner. I went in, looked around if anyone I knew was there, mainly for Ace, and then sat down on the table with Chris.

"You look good," Chris said quietely.

"Yeah?" I asked blushing.

"Yeah," he said nodding.

We were both pretty shy around each other. I don't know why I felt like that around him. Normally, I'm great around boys. During the whole meal, we both didn't talk much. We just commented on the food, and looked around. After the meal, it was time to go home. Mainly because we couldn't think of anything else to do, or to talk about. Maybe we both thought walking would do us good.

"I had fun tonight," I started the conversation.

"Me too, thanks for coming," he said smiling.

"I'm glad I came," I said smiling back. He looked down to his feet, so did I.

"Oh no! Oh no! We're dead!" a voice, screamed behind us, making its way toward us. I looked at Chris and he turned around and looked back.

"Oh shit Teddy! We're gonna die!" Vern was screaming, while trying to run. Teddy was following Vern, but he was relaxed, and smiling, while Vern was scared shitless.

"Relax Vern! Nobody's gonna beat you up," Teddy said.

"Chris!" Vern shouted in relief as he recognised who he was. He quickly hugged Chris and stood by him. Chris was trying to get Vern off of himself, and was looking at me embarrassed.

"Get off! Vern!" he moaned. Teddy finally caught up to us.

"What's cooking Chambers?" he asked and moved his eyebrows up and down, looking at me.

"Will you guys go?" Chris asked them, tilting his head towards me a little. Vern and Teddy looked at me, and I gave a light smile.

"Chris, you gotta help me buddy!" Vern said while he was looking around like a maniac. "I think Ace is after us!"

My eyes suddenly lit up. I smiled.

"What are you smiling at?" Teddy apparently saw my smile. I looked at Chris and said:

"Nothing."

"What did you do to him?" Chris asked.

"Nothing, we didn't do nothing," Teddy answered.

"Teddy, of course we did!" Vern started. "We threw popcorn at him while he was watching a movie at the theater with his gi...."

"Will you shut up?" Teddy yelled and hit Vern in the arm. Teddy looked at me and smiled. "I better get this pussy home before he wets his pants," he said.

"But Teddy..." Vern started.

"Come on Vern," Teddy said as he dragged him away. Chris and I both watched as they walked away, and I saw Teddy, who looked like he was screaming something at Vern.

We started walking again, and for a while we didn't say anything. Then, something happened. No, we didn't kiss. A car pulled up next to us. My greatest nightmare, or should I say dream, had come true. It was Ace. He got out of the car, with a girl? Oh man, he was with a girl! My greatest nightmare had come true. I'd been dreading this day for so long. He walked towards me, smirked and:

"Do you still love me?" he asked. Nice way to greet someone. He liked to torture me this way. I looked at Chris, and shook my head at him as if to say sorry. Then I turned toward Ace.

"Yes," I said. Ace laughed.

"I don't love you," he said and went next to his girlfriend.

"Yeah you do," I said following him with my eyes.

"Oh yeah?" he said. "Watch this." And he did something that made me feel, I don't know how to put it, but it felt really really bad. He stuck his tongue down his girlfriend's mouth, and they kissed for a good minute. Chris was just standing there with his mouth open, looking at me, then looking at Ace and his girlfriend. I was devestated. I didn't know what to do. I dropped to the floor, and sat down, and kept staring at them. But I didn't cry. After they finished kissing, Ace looked at me. And then he turned his stare to Chris.

"You," he said walking towards him. Chris took a step back. "Your little friends caused me some trouble today. They ruined the Marilyn Monroe movie I went to watch," he looked at me while he said that part. "with my girlfriend," he continued. I finally had the courage to stand up. Ace looked at me. I walked up to him and we stared at each other.

"You've turned into a real asshole, you know that?" I finally said. We looked at each other without saying anything. Just as Ace opened his mouth to say something I slapped him. Realising the stupidity of what I had just done, I quickly put my hand down. I looked up at him.

"I'm... I'm sorry," I said as I lifted my hand up and brought it up to his cheek, almost touching him. Then I quickly took it back and looked down.

"Look at me," Ace ordered. I looked at him. He looked so beautiful, like an angel. We were looking at each other, and suddenly he slapped me. Some angel, huh? I turned away and walked away from him without looking back. Chris quickly ran up to me, and started walking next to me.

"Have fun with your new boyfriend," he shouted from behind. Then I heard the sound of the car coming closer to us. Just as he passed us he honked the horn and drove away into the distance, with his girlfriend.

I sat on the floor and buried my face in my hands, but I didn't cry.

"Are you okay?" Chris asked me.

"Fine," I said, not changing my position. He sat down next to me and just stared at the sky. I looked at him, and he turned to me.

"Sorry about this... this whole thing," I managed to say.

"It's okay. I know how you feel," he said and put his hand on my knee.

"Nobody knows how I feel," I said and looked down to my feet. Chris took a deep sigh. "What?" I asked him.

"I know," he said again, taking his hand off my knee. He looked up at the sky again and sighed. I didn't say anything back. I was very confused, but at the same time, it's like I knew what he was talking about. But I guess I really didn't know.

"Can I see you again tomorrow?" Chris asked, eyes wide open. I looked at him confused. "Um, maybe we can go see a movie, or something. If you want," he said.

"I...," I hesitated, but then I agreed. "Okay," I said and got up. He got up with me. "I'll see you tomorrow then," I said and started to walk away.

"After school, at the diner," he shouted, waving. "And bring your friend!" he shouted.

"Teddy?" I shouted back.

"Yeah!" he yelled and ran towards his house.

I smiled to myself as I walked home.

**AN: **Glad to have you back Ra!


	5. The Movies

After yesterday's incident, which gave me nightmares, I was quite optimistic about today's date. After all, we were going to go see a movie. I wasn't quite awake yet, even though my alarm clock rang ten minutes ago. I was lying on my bed, thinking. I heard footsteps coming to my door. Same thing every morning, I thought.

"No no no no no!" I shouted pulling the cover over my head. The door burst open and in popped in my little brother, Paulie. "You stupid little boy," I groaned as he jumped on top of me.

"Dad said he's not gonna drop you off to school unless you get up right now!" he said and left the room quickly.

I sat up on my bed and sighed. I went to the bathroom, but to my luck it was occupied by my older brother, Andrew. I slowly went back to my bedroom, and put on some socks. I got my school uniform out of my closet and put it on my bed. I heard the bathroom door open and slowly made my way to the bathroom. I looked at Andrew and frowned.

"You know, we do have another bathroom," he shook his head in annoyance.

"That's too far away," I replied coldly as I went in the bathroom and closed the door. I quikly splashed some water on my face and washed the sleep off my eyes. I took my pills and got out of the bathroom.

"You see how fast that was Andy!" I laughed and ran to my room and closed the door. He didn't reply, or I didn't hear anything. I put on my uniform and went downstairs, only to find everyone was ready and waiting for me at the door.

"That was pretty fast Georgie," Andrew smirked. "Oh and by the way, don't call me Andy ever again."

My two brothers, me and my dad went to the car. My dad waved bye to mom, and started the car. What a happy family I had. I loved my family more than anything in the world. I was so happy with them and I couldn't even think what I would do without one of them.

Andrew and I sat at the back as my little brother loved to sit at the front. He loved to look at the traffic signs and would ask my dad what each one meant. He knew every sign by heart, which was pretty amazing.

"Do you know what they're making us do in college?" Andrew asked me.

"What?" I said looking out the window.

"Absolutely nothing!" he laughed out loud. I had to laugh at that.

"Must be swell," I smiled.

"You'll like it," he replied, nodding.

"If you say so," I said. He paused for a moment and looked at me.

"What happened yesterday?" he suddenly asked.

"I can't talk in the car Andrew."

"I'm getting off with you," he said and turned away. I nodded.

Finally dad stopped the car in front of school and we all got off. Paulie quickly spotted his friends and ran to them.

"I'm getting off here dad. Thanks," Andrew said as he got out and shut the door. I waved as he drove off.

"What's up?" he asked me.

"You know, the usual," I said as I saw Isabelle coming. I waved at her. She was coming this way.

"You are an idiot. When are you going to stop your obsession with this guy. He is an idiot, I can't believe you can't see that! What stupidity!" he shook his head.

"Yeah yeah, I know," I mumbled.

"So, what happened?" he asked as Isabelle came and stood next to us.

"Hello Andy!" she greeted happily. Andy smiled back at her, obviously annoyed. He looked at me and frowned. I smiled and started telling them what happened.

"Well, I'm going to kill him," Andy stated calmly. I laughed.

"Yeah Andy! Kill that little bastard! Who does he think he is?" Isabelle shouted. Andy shook his head again, but didn't say anything. I was still laughing.

"Nah, Andrew. Don't get involved in our business. After all you're a college boy now," I said.

"I wasn't going to anyway," he smirked. "I don't have time with you little people," he said as he started to walk away.

"I'll see you at home. Oh by the way, I'm going to the movies tonight!" I shouted. He stopped and looked back.

"That's just great. I'm going too. These are the times I wish I lived in a big city, where there are hundreds of movie theaters," he sighed and turned away.

Isabelle and I laughed.

"So you have another date with him," Isabelle said as we walked to class.

"You do too," I smiled, excited about giving her the good news.

"What?" she asked.

"Teddy wants you," I replied.

"He... he wants me?!? Teddy wants me!" she screamed. "In what way?" she suddenly asked lowering her voice.

"He want you to come on a date, I guess," I answered.

"What do you mean, you guess? What exactly does he want with me?" she asked getting annoyed.

"He wants you to be at the diner after school. He's probably gonna ask you out or something."

"I knew it. That little bastard loves me!" she shouted in joy. I cracked up.

After school me and Isabelle were walking to the diner.

"Oh god! Oh god! Oh my god! Oh god!" Isabelle was saying over and over.

"Will you calm down?" I snapped at her.

"But I'm so excited," she said quietely. I didn't say anything back until we got to the diner and walked in through the door. We saw Chris and Teddy sitting at the corner table. Chris waved at me and we walked over to their table.

"Oh shit!" I said, as soon as I sat down.

"What?" Isabelle asked.

"I need to go to the bathroom," I said.

"Oh," Isabelle said and smiled at Teddy. I quickly ran to the bathroom and swallowed my pill. I came back like nothing was wrong and sat down across Chris.

We sat in the diner for a couple of hours until it was time to go to the movies. We talked and talked about everything and we were all enjoying each other's company. Teddy and Isabelle were officially dating now. I was happy about it at first, then I thought of the hours of torture I would have to go through everyday at school, because Isabelle would explain every little detail.

So, we walked to the theater and bought the tickets. I saw my brother but we just nodded at each other. We were going to see a Marilyn Monroe film, which I was happy about. It was called 'The Misfits', also starring Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift.

"Oh god! It's Monty! Monty Clift is so sexy!" Isabelle said jumping up and down.

"Not after his car accident, he ain't," Teddy stated.

"Who cares? He's a great actor," I said annoyed.

"Yeah he is," Chris backed me up.

We made our way into the theater and it was very crowded. Almost all of Castle Rock was there. I was afraid of seeing someone I didn't want to see at that particular time. But I didn't see him outside, so I was safe.

We sat down, almost at the very front. Then the film started. I was so excited to see this film. I'd heard good things about it.

While we were watching, some asshole was throwing popcorn at us from behind. Chris was constantly turning around to spot who was doing it, while I didn't remove my eyes off the film. Teddy and Isabelle were already making out. But after a while, I was starting to get pissed off. I started to turn back and look too. I spotted my brother who waved at me. I just shook my head. Then I turned back and tried to watch the movie.

"That Marilyn Monroe sure acts like a whore," someone shouted from behind, and laughed.

Chris looked at me immediately because we both knew who that voice belonged to.

"Ace," we both said at the same time. Teddy and Isabelle stopped kissing and both turned back. Chris decided to do something heroic.

"Do you wanna go outside Ace, cos I'm ready," he shouted.

"You wanna play the hero?" Ace teased.

"Let's go, right now!" Chris said as he got up. We all got up with him, and looked at Ace, who looked angry.

"Have it your way," he said. All of us, walked out of the theater and stood outside looking at one another.

"Why'd you have to go and say that for Ace?" I asked him shaking my head in disappointment.

"I knew you'd hate it," he smirked. "And me and my girlfriend don't really like Marilyn."

"Why come to a Marilyn Monroe movie then?" Chris asked and laughed.

Ace walked towards Chris and punched him in the stomach. Teddy immedialtely lunged at Ace, but Ace threw Teddy off with a fast arm movement. Isabelle screamed, and I was shaking my head in disappointment. Ace walked towards me.

"I've always hated that habit of yours," he said. I took a step back.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! What's going on here Georgie?" a voice said coming from behind. It was Andrew! He probably heard Isabelle screaming and realised something was wrong. Because otherwise, he wouldn't interfere with my business. Ace took a step back from me. I smiled. Teddy and Chris had already gotten up and took their places behind Andrew.

"Easy guys," Andrew laughed.

"Who the fuck are you?" Ace asked. Andrew laughed lightly.

"Don't you remember me Ace? I was the one who beat you up in school when you were little," he said. Teddy and Chris cracked up. "I'm also Georgie's brother."

"Oh, so you're the Andrew she used to talk about. I thought it was another one of her one night stands."

"Let's go, right now, you and me Ace," Andrew said quietely as he made his way to Ace. Ace quickly put his hand in his pocket and got out a knife. Andrew stopped walking.

"What are you, a pussy Ace? Drop the knife," he said.

"And what if I don't," Ace smirked.

"Get out of here Georgie, and take your friends with you," Andrew ordered, looking concerned.

"What about the movie?" I asked.

"Georgie," Andrew said turning around.

"Alright, fine. We're going," I said and started walking with Chris, Teddy and Isabelle.

"You think he'll be alright?" Chris asked me while we were walking.

"Sure. They're not really gonna hurt each other. Andrew definitely won't, and Ace surely won't stab him. He wouldn't dare," I said.

"Oh I bet he will," Teddy said from behind. "A couple of years ago he almost killed Chris with that knife, if it wasn't for Gordie who...."

"Shut up Teddy," Chris said quietely.

"No," I looked at Chris. "Go on Teddy," I said. Chris looked down.

"We found this body right, long story. Anyway we were about to take him, when Ace and his gang showed up. Ace was almost gonna kill Chris, he was gonna cut his throat," Teddy told us.

I stopped walking and turned back and looked at Teddy. "And then what?" I asked.

"Well, Chris brought a gun, just in case we saw a bear or something. And Gordie used it just at the last second! He saved his life and scared off Ace and his gang!"

I didn't say anything, I just started walking the opposite way. Almost running.

"Where you going?" Chris shouted.

"I'm going back," I shouted back. They all ran with me and we stopped behind a tree and watched Ace and Andrew fighting.

"Come on Andy, is that all you got?" Ace said in between punches.

"Don't call me Andy, ok?" Andrew said and punched him in the face.

"The drugs you smoke at college aren't doing you any good I see," Ace laughed.

"What drugs?" I thought out loud. Chris looked at me concerned. Andrew punched Ace again.

"Yes!" Isabelle screamed quietely.

Then out of nowhere, Eyeball, Vince, Charlie and Ace's whole gang showed up. Andrew stopped fighting and looked at them. They slowly surrounded him.

"What is this, a tea party?" Andrew said sarcastically.

"You're dead," Ace said quietely and with a fast movement he cut Andrew's arm.

And with that, with a highly accelerated rapid movement, I got up and ran and stood in the middle of the circle.

Andrew walked towards Ace, slowly, looking like he was going to kill him.

"Andrew, Andrew stop!" I screamed. Andrew looked at me suddenly with disgust in his eyes.

"Are you... are you protecting Ace?" he questioned. Ace laughed from where he was standing. I couldn't believe he was asking me this. I... I didn't know what to say to him. I looked at Ace and then at him.

"You are," he said slowly and began to walk away.

"Hey, stop! No! Come on Andrew!" I said walking after him.

"Georgie, don't follow me," he said without raising his voice, but he was furious. "I'll get you for this Ace!" he shouted and then walked away.

I let Andrew go, and turned back and looked at Ace and his gang who were returning to the theater. I was so mad at Ace. I ran up to him and starting hitting him and shouting at him.

"You son of a whore!" I screamed, hitting him.

"Calm down Georgie," Ace said pushing me away from himself.

"You cut him! You fucking cut him!" I shouted, and punched his arm.

He started to look at me strangely, and suddenly he kissed me lightly on the lips. I was speechless, I had waited for this moment for a long time. I was so happy.

"I'm flattered that you chose me over your brother," he said.

"What?" I asked confused.

He just laughed and left with his friends.

"I hate you!" I screamed at him.

"No you don't!" he screamed without looking back, and entered the theater.

"Shit!" I said at the top of my voice. I saw Chris wallking over to me but I started to run. I ran, but I didn't know where.


	6. What's with Ace?

I couldn't run anymore. It was pretty cold outside, but I felt boiling on the inside. I stopped running and looked up to see where I was. I couldn't recognize the place, all I knew was that I was far away from my neighborhood. This place looked like a dump. It was probably where all the hoods and gangs hung out. I sat down under a tree and started thinking to myself. After a couple of minutes I fell asleep. When I woke up I saw five disgusting faces looking at me.

"What next?" I thought out loud.

The boys kept on staring at me, and looking at each other from time to time.

"Get up," one of them said.

I did so without asking questions. I didn't feel like outsmarting any of these idiots right now. One of them grabbed me by the arm and pulled me.

"Hey, hands off," I said.

"What if I don't take 'em off? Whatcha gonna do if I don't?" he said smirking.

"Nothing," I sighed.

He kept pulling me until we got to this huge tree. Some of the boys sat under the tree, sipping on beer. I was still standing up looking down at them, with the boy still holding onto my arm.

"What's your name?" the boy asked me.

"Mary," I said without hesitating.

"And how old are you Mary?"

"I'm 10," I said sarcastically.

Everyone laughed. I smiled carelessly. "Can I go now," I asked as nicely as I could. "My mom will kill me."

"No Mary, not yet," the boy who was holding my arm said. He let go of my arm and went to get 2 beers out of a bag. He offered one to me.

"I'm under-age," I said and refused the drink.

"Come with me," the boy said and pulled me closer towards the road, which was a relief. I could see some people now.

"What?" I asked pushing his hand away.

"Mary," he said slowly.

"Yeah," I said slowly, feeling a little scared.

"I want to fuck you," he said and smiled at me, squeezing my arm again.

"Oh for fuck's sake," I said. He was holding my arm harder now. I used the old trick. "If you don't let me go right now, I'll scream."

"Not if I kiss you," he said and leaned forward to do so.

"Whoa there! I don't think so. I'm leaving." I said as I quickly hit his hand away and made a run for it. I was running pretty fast when I got to the road, and there were a couple of cars coming by. I was trying to cross the street. I dodged one car but I couldn't see the other car coming and it kinda hit me. Nothing too bad, but bad enough for him to catch me again.

"Thanks for the help!" the boy said to the driver.

"No problem," the driver said as we got up. You guessed it, it was Ace. We were standing in front of the car, with the boy holding on to my arm. My mouth was wide open, and so was Ace's.

"Let's go Mary!" the boy said and started pulling me.

"Mary?" Ace asked confused.

"What?" I said. "It's my name."

"Come on Mary! I haven't got all day. Just a quick one," the boy said and pulled me away from the road. I looked back at Ace as we walked into the trees.

"Go easy on her," Ace said uncomfortably.

"Sure will," the boy said.

We got to a place where I couldn't see the road anymore. This time I didn't fight. I didn't care anymore.

"Could you kill me afterwards?" I asked the boy.

"Looks like I have a joker here," he smiled. "But no, I won't kill you. I'm no murderer."

"Oh so you only rape. Well, that's still something," I said.

He pushed me against a tree and started kissing my neck. I had no more reason to fight anymore so I just stood there looking up at the sky. He started grabbing my breasts and he took my hand and put it on his, you know what. It was terrible.

"Please don't," I pleaded. He didn't say anything. I sighed. My life was getting worse and worse by the second. He threw me on the ground and came on top of me. A second later he was off of me. When I looked up I saw two people fighting in the dark. As fast as I could, I got up and started running. I noticed someone was running behind me. I finally got to the road and tried to look for help. But there was no car passing. Just Ace's car, parked across the street. I turned around and I saw Ace running up to me.

"You," I began. "You leave me alone." I started walking down the road. Ace followed me.

"Come on Mary!" he laughed. "I saved you."

"Saved me?!? Sure you did Ace, sure you did." I said shaking my head.

"Hey Georgie, don't be so stupid, let me give you a ride home. Come on," he said and held my hand. I pulled away.

" 'Go easy on her'? What the fuck was that Ace?" I yelled. He didn't say anything.

"Did he do it?" he asked after a while. "I'll kill him."

"Oh shut up Ace. Stop fucking with me. I can't take it anymore. You came and saved me. Bra-fucking-vo! What you did to me the last couple of days hurt more than everything he ever did. So don't act like you fucking care!" I burst out crying. "Please don't."

Ace didn't say anything, maybe because he knew everything I said was true. He stopped walking next to me and walked the opposite way. "Great," I thought. "Now I'm fucked. How am I gonna get home?"

Ace pulled up his car next to me. He didn't say anything, he just opened the door and waited. I got in and we drove off.


	7. What's with Andy?

What's with Andy?

The weather was cold, and the wind was coming strongly at my face as I rode in Ace's car. We didn't say anything to each other. What was there to say? I turned to look at him but he was focused on the road. I was hoping he'd say something. It was rare that you saw Ace as serious as he was now. I wiggled around in my seat and crossed my arms tightly. I looked out of the window as I saw some familiar houses. I sighed.

Just then, Ace looked at me for a second and made a small gesture with his hand, asking me to come closer. My eyebrows flung up and I looked at him in shock, but his eyes were on the road, he didn't see me. It took a while to comprehend his gesture, and I thought he would repeat it, but he didn't. I stood in my seat for a few more seconds before doing anything because I thought that Ace had changed his mind or something. Maybe he didn't want me to come closer anymore. He was still looking at the road. "Why waste my luck?" I thought to myself. To myself??!? I realized I hadn't talked to myself for a while today, and I hadn't taken my nightly pill. "This is too good to last," I thought as I moved closer to Ace and he suddenly threw his arm across me and made me feel comfortable on his shoulder.

Too good to last, because we arrived home. I didn't move for a few seconds until I looked up at the house and saw Andrew at the window. He quickly went away when he saw me looking, but I could see he was still watching. Or maybe I wanted him to be watching, me and Ace, together. I started to slide across the seat to get to the door but Ace held me back softly and kissed me. My face was frozen but there was a gentle heat in the mouth area which felt just great. I didn't want to stop, but he pulled away. I quickly raised my hands and pulled his face closer, this time feeling his great hair with one hand, and feeling his face with the other as we kissed. I stopped and made my way out of the car and walked home. Ace drove off as soon as the door opened.

"It's almost midnight. You have school tomorrow," my mom said slowly.

"Don't worry, I slept a little before," I smiled and went upstairs.

I looked in Andrew's room and I saw the room in a mess. There were all sorts of things lying on the floor. I shrugged to myself and went to my room, where I knew Andrew would be. I didn't want to really talk to him because I knew he had seen me and Ace outside, but we needed to talk.

I walked into my room casually hoping Andrew would be less mad.

"Whoa!" he said getting up from my bed. "You scared me!"

"What'd I do?" I said confused. What _did _I do?

"I was just reading one of your books here, and you just barged in."

"I didn't barge in!" I protested.

"Alright!" he laughed and threw the book on my bed.

"So," I started.

"Hey Georgie?" he interrupted.

"What?" I asked.

"You wanna finish watching the Marilyn Monroe movie?" he asked smiling.

"The one we were seeing at the movie theater the other day?" I asked confused.

"Yeah. Wanna go tomorrow?"

"Uh, sure, why not?" I smiled nervously. What was he talking about? Why wasn't he saying anything?

He nodded and got out of my room. I heard his door closing. I looked at myself in the mirror. "What in the world?" I asked myself. He was doing this on purpose. He was purposely being nice to me, and afterwards he was gonna kill me. Maybe he was gonna kill me at the movies. I decided to go in there and discuss the whole situation so it wouldn't bother me when I went to sleep.

"What do you think of him now?" I asked as I entered.

"You're full of shit," he answered in the most serious, furious tone of voice I've ever heard. My proud smile disappeared in seconds as I looked at him in shock.

"He will kill you. Maybe not in the next few months, but he will do it. He'll never really love you. If you get in his way he'll kill you," he said not looking at me.

"You don't know him like I do, do you Andrew?" I stared at him, waiting for his response.

"I know his type," he said confidently. "Now, I'm not the kind of brother who saves her little sister from the hands of the bad guy…" As he said this I smiled to myself, because I knew something he didn't know. And I was not going to tell him about it.

"Well if you must know, Ace and I are getting along pretty fine. There's no violence between us," I said and remembered when we both slapped each other. Andrew must have remembered it as well because he laughed when I said that.

"Georgie, he carries a knife in his pocket," Andrew said concerned. I couldn't say anything back. "And he's not afraid to use it," he added.

"I trust him," I managed to say.

"More than you trust me?" he asked.

I think both of us knew the answer to that so I didn't say anything. I turned around and left the room.

"Don't come running to me after he beats you up!" he shouted as I left.

"He won't!" I shouted back and slammed the door behind me. I threw myself on my bed, and I guess I couldn't hear the door open because Andrew was standing in the room.

"You can call me Andy, and I won't get mad at you," he said and left the room.

I couldn't believe what he had just said. How could he? I'm his sister, his best friend! I slammed my head on my pillow and whispered to myself, "Shit!"


	8. The Town Idiot

"You can call me Andy, and I won't get mad at you."

That's Andy's way of saying he hates you. He hates being called Andy because it rhymes with a lot of things we wouldn't want to say to him. When he says the phrase above, it means you can call him Andy, and he won't get mad. Which means, that he doesn't care about you as a person, that you are worthless to him. Because if someone he loves, like me, calls him Andy, he gets mad and yells at you, which means he cares about you. If he doesn't say anything, he hates you and you can just go to hell.

I think I'm overreacting. It's just a sentence. It can't possibly come between family. Or can it?

"_Andy did look pretty angry yesterday."_

"You're telling me…"

"_What are you gonna do?"_

"I don't know. I think I'm not gonna do anything. That's what he wants me to do."

"_Yeah, he wants you to leave Ace!"_

"Yes. And I'm not going to. He'll see how good I am with Ace and the whole thing will be forgotten."

"_Well, I don't think it's that easy…"_

"Well I'm just gonna take my pill now so you can shut up."

Now I can go out in peace.

It was a Saturday and that meant that everyone was at the diner. Great place to hang out, and talk with friends. I was going to go there, and I did so just as I swallowed my pill. I approached the diner and tried to see through the windows who was there before I actually went in, so I could just sit down without looking like an idiot. Isabelle was there with Teddy, and Ace was there with the gang. But who was I to sit with? Oh shit! Chris was there too. But he understands what I'm going through so I wasn't too worried about him. I was at the door now with my mind not made up.

So I went in and stood in the doorway, looking around. Isabelle waved at me and so did Chris. I looked at Ace who just looked at me and smirked. I nodded and smiled to Isabelle and Chris, and made my way to Ace's table.

"Look who's here?" Eyeball asked, looking more shocked than happy.

"Did you forget me so soon Richie?" I asked and looked at Ace who was looking out the window.

"Eyeball," Eyeball corrected.

"Yeah you're a tough boy now, aren't you?" I said and looked at Ace again.

"Does anyone want a drink?" I asked them. They all shook their heads, so I went over to the bar and ordered a milkshake for myself. I looked over to the table and saw that Eyeball was talking frantically to Ace, and Ace was just telling him to shut up. I looked over to the table Chris and the gang were sitting at. Isabelle gave me a "What the hell is going on?" look. I smiled and shrugged. Chris wasn't looking at me, he was busy talking with Teddy and Gordie. Then I saw Isabelle's look change. Chris, Teddy and Gordie all looked up too. They were looking over me, toward Ace's table. I turned my head around as fast as I could to see Ace. My mouth flung open and I started breathing heavily. I had this horrible pain in my heart. Was I dying?

I kept my face straight and kept staring at Ace. He had now stopped kissing his girlfriend and was smirking at me. This had gone too far. I marched up to him.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked him casually. He turned to his friends around the table and smiled at them.

"She still hasn't gotten over me. Poor thing." he said.

"But last night…" I couldn't finish the sentence. After all, what _had_ happened last night? Kisses don't mean anything. I had gotten my hopes up for nothing.

"Yes?" Ace continued. "Last night?"

"We were together and you kissed me. It was.. We were in the car…" I mumbled. Ace just laughed.

"You must have been dreaming or something. I was out cruising with Eyeball last night. I never even saw you. Isn't that right Eyeball?" he asked without taking his eyes off me.

"That's right," Eyeball said calmly.

I started shaking my head at Eyeball but he wasn't looking at me. He couldn't look at me. He knew he was lying, Ace knew he was lying and I knew he was lying. But nobody else knew and that's what made me furious. I decided not to be humiliated any longer, and leave.

"You're right Ace. Probably just a dream.," I said and turned away.

I walked out of the diner, and started going home. I concluded that I had two options. One was to kill myself, and the other was to go on with my life, admit to Andrew he was right, and never trust Ace again. The first one was the easier task. I could just take a box of pills, which would be easy to do as I take pills on a daily basis.

I kept thinking about how many times I had been humiliated in the diner before. It was almost every time I went there, I would run out the door with tears. The whole town knew about me, and what's worse is that they witness everything bad that's happened to me. Not the good things, not the kiss in the car, but the events in the diner.

I was ruined. My reputation was getting worse and worse. I had almost no friends left. Isabelle was spending all her time with Teddy. And Chris.. Wait a second…

I still had Chris left…


	9. The Truth Comes Out, Almost

I decided to skip school on Monday, because I knew Ace would also do the same thing. I wanted to find Ace and talk to him without his girlfriend being in the picture. I wanted to teach him a lesson. I just didn't know how I was going to do that yet. But I wasn't scared. I was sure I could think of something when I saw his face. That little bastard. I could just kill him.

So I was walking down the street, minding my own business, when something unplanned happened.

"Why aren't you at school Georgie?" Chris asked me. I couldn't help it, but I think he might have noticed the disappointed look on my face when I turned around and looked at him.

"I wasn't in the mood," I replied simply. What I like about Chris is that he understands when someone doesn't want to talk. So in this case, he didn't ask any more questions. Now, if he could only just leave before I encountered Ace.

No. He kept walking beside me. Normally I would love it when he walks beside me. But this isn't the right moment for this. I was going to take care of Chris after school today at the diner, but this is messing all my plans up.

"Why aren't you at school?" I asked him.

"I don't know. It's just boring in there. I feel like I'm in prison."

"Well you got out alright," I smiled and so did he. I didn't want him to smile. Because if he smiles, he is enjoying my company, and if he enjoys my company he will stay with me the whole day. Looked like he was going to stay with me the whole day, so I needed a new plan.

I got it! I could make Ace jealous by using Chris. I had to take action immediately. I stopped and looked into Chris' eyes. He looked into mine. I slowly moved forward and gave him a little kiss. Then I turned away from him. Now, what I was waiting for was him to turn me back and kiss me like in the pictures. Like Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun.

He put his hand on my shoulder and turned me around gently. He moved forward and kissed me. Well, my plan was working, and the worst part was, I was enjoying kissing Chris. We kept on kissing, and I kept on enjoying it. Oh my God! I think I was finally over Ace. All it needed was a good kiss.

We pulled away from each other and both of us turned red. Chris looked down to his feet, and I was looking around for no reason. We both looked at each other and started to laugh.

"Hey Georgie?" Chris asked.

"Yeah?" I said smiling.

"I think I'm in love with you," he said.

"You what?" I replied shocked. I wasn't happy to hear this. Normally any girl would be happy. But I wasn't. And with that, I realized I wasn't over Ace. Chris was obviously a little hurt.

"What I mean is, I didn't expect it to happen so soon," I mumbled. "I…I'm glad."

We walked together side by side, and Chris put his arm around me, and I put mine around his. Now all I was hoping for was Ace to show up.

I heard a car coming from behind us. I hoped it was Ace. It was going quite fast, and I thought only Ace would drive that fast. But whoever it was, the car wasn't stopping.

Just as soon as the car went past us, the car screeched quite loudly leaving its marks on the road.

"Oh shit," Chris said as he quickly took his arm away from me.

"Oh shit," I repeated, with a psychotic grin on my face. I couldn't help it. This was either going to be something great, or something terrible. I was desperate to find out which.

Ace got out of the car looking mad as hell. Eyeball was trying to keep up with him. Chris was slowly backing away, but I don't think he realized it. I backed away with him.

"Ace, come on," Eyeball was saying. But he couldn't stop Ace. He was now standing in front of us. Boy, was he mad. I decided to make him even madder.

"Ace," I said sternly. "Fuck you," I said slowly. Ace didn't change the look on his face.

"Georgie will you come here a minute?" Ace said and pulled me away to the other side of the street.

"What is it Ace?" I asked.

"You know I love you, don't you?" he said looking at me in the eyes.

Um, no I didn't know you loved me, but I suspected something was going on.

"Yes," I said simply.

"Then why in the hell are you doing this to me?" he asked seriously.

"Whoa Ace. I'm not the one doing anything. I'm still quite shocked to hear you love me, to be honest."

"But you said you knew that I did."

"No I didn't!" I shouted. I lowered my voice so that Chris couldn't hear. "After all those things you did to me, I was quite convinced that you hated me. I'm not quite sure if I still love you anymore."

"What?" Ace looked hurt. I had hit the right spot.

"Yeah, I don't think I love you anymore," I said again.

"So what? You love that stupid Chambers kid?" he asked pointing to Chris.

"I don't know Ace," I sighed. I couldn't keep up with this game. I wasn't over Ace. I was still in love with him, and I decided to tell him the truth. "Do you really think I could stop loving you?" I asked him.

"Honestly, no one could stop loving me," he laughed.

"Yeah, I love you," I said looking down at my feet.

"Me too Georgie. Me too," he said.

"Why aren't you with me then?" I asked him looking up.

"Because…!" he said.

"Is it because of the whole sex thing?" I asked.

"No, no it's not that."

"Because I changed my mind. I could have sex with you anytime Ace. You just have to ask."

"No Georgie. I don't want you to have sex with me. It's not that…"

We suddenly heard some noises coming from across the street. We turned and saw Chris and Eyeball fighting. We ran over to their sides. Ace got in the middle of the fight and stopped them.

"Let's go Eyeball," Ace said quietly.

"I'll see you at home Chris!" Eyeball shouted.

They got in the car and left.

"What was all that about?" Chris asked me.

"What was your fight about?" I asked Chris.

We both didn't answer each other's question.

"Is it alright if I go home now Chris?" I asked him.

"Okay, sure. I'll walk you home," he said.

"No, I prefer to go alone," I told him and waved goodbye.


	10. A Disaster

A quick recap of the situation here. Yesterday I learned that Chris and Ace were in love with me. But as you all know, I am in love with Ace. I had to get Chris out of the picture so I could sort things out with Ace. I needed to find out why he couldn't be with me.

The next day at school, I told Isabelle what had happened the day before. She kept giving me exaggerated reasons on why Ace couldn't be with me. I didn't take into consideration any of them. I decided that I would confront him, for real, at the diner today. No way he can escape this time. Isabelle was going to keep Chris busy, and find a way to gradually let him know that I was in love with Ace, so that when I broke the news to him, it wouldn't come as a total surprise.

As we were walking to the diner, I actually thought that things were going to go well this time. Boy was I wrong.

I walked into the diner where everyone was sitting at their usual tables. Ace was sitting with his girlfriend again, but this time, I didn't care because I knew the truth. As I walked to their table, I took a quick glance back where I saw Isabelle already seated at Teddy's table. Chris, Gordie and Vern were also there. Chris was looking over at me. I quickly smiled and walked over to Ace.

"Hello Jess," I smirked. I saw Ace smirking as well. It made me feel good.

"What do you want?" she asked putting her arms around Ace.

"Nothing. Just wanted to say hi. And steal your boyfriend for a minute," I said looking at Ace.

"He isn't at your disposition, ya know?" she laughed.

"Step aside Jess," Ace said getting up.

That was easier than I thought. Ace got up and followed me. I led him outside to a corner next to the parking lot.

"Why?" I asked simply.

"Why what?" he said.

"Why can't you be with me you asshole?" I replied.

"Oh that," he smiled. "That, my darling, I can't tell you," he said as he turned around.

"Come on Ace! You're killing me here!" I pleaded.

Ace pulled me further back into the corner and started kissing me. I kissed him back and we kept kissing for a long time. I pulled back.

"But why Ace? Tell me why?" I persisted.

"It's hard to say Georgie. I'll sound like a pussy."

"Tell me Ace. Come on!"

"You're a great student, good grades and everything."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I can't be with girls like you. You're gonna leave this city, you're gonna go to college. It's best if we just stopped seeing each other now, instead of later. Less painful."

"You're so fucking stupid. Is this a fucking joke or what?"

"Well fuck you! And fuck me for telling you how I feel! You think this is easy for me Georgie? I have feelings too. And I only show 'em to you. I fucking love you, but we're never gonna really end up together. We're from two different worlds. Sounds stupid, but it's damn true."

"What a fucking joke! Sounds like a plot from a romance movie or something."

"Yeah, well, that's the way it is," he said disappointed and he walked back to the diner. I just stood there, thinking about what just happened.

A few minutes later I walked back to the diner as well. Ace had already sat down at his table. I walked over to where Isabelle was sitting and as I came to the table everyone squished so I could sit down. I ended up sitting right next to Chris, which was a good thing I guess. I didn't have to look him in the eye.

I never talked to Chris directly, and I think he understood what was going on. But we were having fun just as friends and I think even if we didn't say anything about it, we decided to be friends instead. At least, I hope that's what he was thinking.

A couple of milkshakes later, I heard some gasps inside the diner. We looked at each other puzzled. What the hell was going on. Ace got up. He looked furious. But I could see no reason of why he would. He was smiling psychotically. He got up from his table and quickly walked outside. Everyone turned to look outside through the windows and as soon as I saw what was going on, I got up and ran outside.

Andrew was there, with a knife in his hand, waiting for Ace. I guess he wanted to kill him after what had happened in front of the movie theater.

"Guys!" I shouted getting in the middle of them.

"Georgie, get the fuck out of here. Stay away from this," Andrew said, furious.

Chris came up behind me and pulled me back. And they started fighting. I couldn't watch. Why were they doing this? Chris was hugging me and I was hugging him back. There was nothing else I could do. My back was turned to the fight, and all I could hear were gasps and shouts and screams.

Then, a second later, everyone was silent. Chris was hugging me harder than before. I started to escape Chris's grasp and as soon as I did, I turned around to see Andrew lying on the floor with Ace standing over him. Ace had his mouth open and he dropped his knife to the floor. I ran over to them.

"Ace," I managed to say, "What have you done?"


	11. A Choice

I couldn't believe it. Ace had stabbed my brother. He was lying on the ground with blood coming out of him. I didn't know what to do.

Ace slowly bent down and picked up his knife. He looked at me for a second and then turned around to leave.

"Ace!" I yelled behind him. He didn't look back. "Ace, don't run away!" I shouted. I saw him get in his car and leave. I shook my head in disappointment.

"I can't believe this," I mumbled. Chris rushed up to me.

"I'll get my brother's car, and we'll take him to the hospital," he said and ran quickly to Eyeball.

I couldn't do anything. I couldn't move. I was breathing heavily. I needed to sit down. My head…

I woke up in the hospital. I looked around and saw Andrew lying on the bed next to mine.

"You finally woke up," Andrew said. "You fainted," he laughed.

"Very funny," I said trying to get up.

"You should lie down, you almost died," Andrew said sarcastically.

"Will you shut up?" I asked and walked to his side. "So, I see you're doing well," I said.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I can't believe you fainted though," he laughed again.

"You know, I was worried about you," I said.

"Were you also worried about Ace?" he asked me suddenly.

"Ace has nothing to do with this," I replied coldly.

"Don't make me laugh," he laughed. "He stabbed me, remember?"

"Yes, I know."

"What are you gonna do about it?"

"I don't know."

"You're still gonna see him, aren't you?

"I don't know, alright?"

"You make me so fucking mad sometimes Georgie. You know that? So fucking mad!" he almost screamed. "Ace tried to kill me."

"You started it. You came to the diner with a knife."

"Here you go again. Protecting Ace," he said.

"No I'm not," I interrupted.

"So if I died, you'd probably come with him to my funeral, and maybe make out later that day."

"Fuck you Andrew," I snapped.

"No, fuck you," he said seriously.

"I'm outta here," I said and started to leave.

"Sure, go look for Ace. Make him feel better while I lie here for the next two days in pain," Andrew said.

I was almost out the door when I realized something.

"Wait a second," I said and turned around to Andrew.

"What?" Andrew said puzzled.

"You don't look like you're in pain. You look like you're enjoying all this," I said pointing a finger at him.

"What do you mean?" Andrew asked.

I moved closer to him and grabbed him by the collar.

"You set this all up didn't you?" I hissed.

"What? Georgie, you're out of your mind!" he said trying to shake off my grip.

"You set this whole thing up! The stabbing! To make me feel guilty! I fucking knew it!"

"Why would I set up my own stabbing? Why would I risk my own life for you to stop going with some asshole? It's your own fucking life Georgie. If you're gonna ruin it, I don't care."

"You predicted this would happen! You thought that I'd feel guilty and I would stop!" I pulled my hands away from his collar and walked around. I was laughing hysterically. "But I'm not going to! I'm going to continue seeing him!" I laughed wildly in his face. "You're never gonna stop me Andrew. Don't try a stupid little trick like this again!"

Andrew sighed and said quietly, "Georgie, you're out of your mind."

"You'll see," I said walking out of the door.

I walked out into the hall to see my mom and dad.

"What are you doing Georgie?" my mom asked.

"Oh hey mom," I said. "I'm just getting out of here."

"You need to rest Georgie."

"Mom, I just fainted, I'm alright now," I said. "You take care of Andrew, he looks terrible," I said smirking as I walked past them. I saw them rushing to my brother's room.

I walked out of the hospital and just stood there for a few minutes, looking around. I was trying to decide where I should go, when suddenly, from the corner, a familiar looking car stopped in front of me.

"Get in," Ace shouted.

I got in without saying anything. I was glad I was with Ace right now. I was glad Ace came for me.

"Hey Ace?" I asked.

"What?" he said.

"We need to talk."

He looked at me and nodded without saying anything. He pushed down hard on the gas.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see," he said. "You'll see."


	12. Cindy? Part 1

"Where the hell are we Ace?" I asked as he stopped the car and got out. I waited for an answer.

"Get out," he said opening my door.

"No!" I said. Something strange was going on.

"What, are you scared of me Georgie?" Ace smiled. I couldn't resist that smile. I stepped out of the car and tried to touch his hair. He backed up and held my hand. He looked into my eyes and slowly brought my hand up. He kissed my hand, never taking his eyes off me. I smiled and jumped on him, with my legs wrapped around him, and I hugged him. He gave me a quick kiss on the lips and put me down. He had a concerned look on his face.

"What was it you needed to talk to me about?" he asked avoiding my glance.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked.

"Because…" he said.

"Why?" I insisted.

"Goddammit Georgie! Are you gonna tell me the bad news or do you want to play fucking guessing games with me!" Ace turned around and looked at me, waiting for my answer. I was confused. What bad news?

"What bad news?" I asked.

"You said you needed to talk. That's why I brought you out here. I didn't want to get humiliated in town. People would talk about this whole thing," Ace said and he kicked a stone on the ground.

"Ace, what the hell are you talking about?"

"I don't know Georgie, alright?" Ace sighed. "Will you tell me what the hell is going on?"

I was getting frustrated by Ace's attitude. If anyone were to have an attitude, it should be me. Not him.

"You know what, Ace?" I asked walking towards him. "You stabbed my brother!" I shouted in his face, and quickly backed away.

Ace looked hurt. "He came to the diner with a knife Georgie," he said. "I was protecting myself."

"You stabbed my brother," I repeated.

"Dammit!" he said and sat down on the ground, putting his hands on his head.

"Ace," I said and sat down next to him. "I love you so much."

Ace quickly looked up at me. "What?" he asked.

"I love you Ace. I really love you," I said moving in closer to him. I put my head on his shoulder.

"I thought we came up here because you wanted to break it off," Ace said as he kissed my forehead.

"Well, you brought us up here. But I never wanted to break it off. Never."

"What about your brother?"

"What about him?" I said and Ace smiled. We sat there, together, holding each other.

By the time we got back in town, I was just in time for dinner. I entered the dining room and I was surprised to see Andrew sitting at the table, eating like a healthy young man.

"Hello Georgina," Andrew smirked.

"Shut up Andy," I said and sat down.

"What's wrong with you Georgie?" my mom asked as she passed a plate to me.

"I'm just tired I guess," I said, looking at Andrew.

"Well you should have stayed in bed today," she said, handing me some more food.

"Where were you anyway?" Andrew asked.

"I think you know the answer to that Andrew," I said. He let out a small laugh.

"You were right about earlier," he said. I looked up. He continued. "And it's not the end of it," he said seriously.

"What are you two talking about?" my dad asked.

"Just a joke between us," Andrew said before I could say anything.

We finished our meal in silence and I walked up to my room. Andrew came in a couple of minutes later.

"Are you threatening me?" I asked him straight up.

"Stop seeing him, or you'll regret it," he said. "Is that clear enough, or do you want me to pull one of my stupid little tricks again."

"What do you want from us Andrew?" I asked seriously.

"Ask your little boyfriend if he remembers a certain girl named Cindy," he said and left the room.

"What?"

"_A girl named Cindy."_

"I heard."

"_Who the hell is she?"_

"Cindy…"

"_Wait a second. I know her."_

"Yeah, yeah. She's the girl who killed herself. It was last year!"

"_What does she have to do with Ace? Or even Andrew?"_

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out. Wait a second, you're back!"

"_Yes, yes I am. You talk to Ace tomorrow. You have to find out about this."_

"You leave me alone."

I didn't know why I was talking to myself again. I gulped down a pill and went to sleep, trying to figure out this Cindy problem by myself.


	13. Cindy? Part 2

The next morning I charged into Andrew's room.

"Who the hell is Cindy?" I asked.

Andrew was already up and making his bed. When he heard my question, he began to laugh. I stood at the doorway following him with my eyes. He didn't say anything and kept going on with his daily routine. When he was done, he wanted to leave the room, but I was standing in his way.

"Move," he ordered.

"Not until you tell me about Cindy," I replied calmly.

"I told you," he said as he pushed me out of the way. "Ask that asshole." He went downstairs and I heard the front door open and close. I sighed and went back to my room to get ready for school.

As soon as I walked out of the front door, a car pulled up. Ace smiled at me as I got in the car.

"Stop the car Ace," I said after a while.

"What for?" he asked.

"Just stop the car, I need to ask you something."

"Yeah, alright," he said obviously annoyed. "What is it?" he asked once he pulled over.

"Did you know a girl called Cindy?" I asked looking away, scared of what the answer was going to be.

Ace paused for a moment. He checked his hair in the rear-view mirror. Then he asked casually, "The one that killed herself?"

"Yes. You used to know her right? Tell me about her."

"Look Georgie, aren't you late for school? Hell, I know I am. Let me drop you off, we'll talk about this later. I don't why the fuck you even brought it up anyway," Ace said and started the engine.

"Dammit Ace. I want to know what happened!" I shouted. The car stopped.

"Look Georgie, I don't what anyone told you, but it had nothing to do with me alright? I didn't control the girl's fucking mind!" he shouted back and started driving again.

I didn't say anything. I had all these theories running through my mind.

"What d'you wanna hear Georgie?" Ace said after a while.

"Tell me why. Why Cindy killed herself."

"And how the hell should I know that?" he said as he stopped the car. We had arrived at my school. I got out the car and told him to meet me at the diner after school and tell me everything, or else he'd lose me. He nodded and drove off.


	14. Cindy? Part 3

I was waiting at the diner for Ace to show up. I sincerely had no clue what he was going to tell me about Cindy. I was staring out the window for any sign of him or his car. I waited for about ten minutes before I heard someone say "Hi".

I turned around and Chris was standing next to the table.

"Hi," I said, and turned back around to look out the window.

"I need to talk to you," he said and sat down across me.

I couldn't talk to him right now. I was waiting for Ace. I looked around the diner trying to find an excuse to say no. I saw Gordie, Teddy and Vern sitting towards the back, looking over here. When they spotted me, they ducked down.

"What's going on?" I asked Chris. He blushed and looked out the window. "How come your friends are watching us?"

"I gotta tell you something. It's something that's been bugging me for ages," Chris said and took a deep breath.

Oh no. I knew where this was going. I was trying desperately to get out of this situation.

"I like you Georgie. I really like you. Way back when you were hanging out with Eyeball and Ace, I always had a crush on you, and everyone knows except you," Chris said so quickly that the only thing I could say was "Huh?"

"I just said it," he sighed.

"What?"

"I like you Georgie. I know everything about you, your favorite color, your favorite songs, your favorite movies, everything."

"How?" I said, and quickly added, "Why?"

"I don't know," he said. "I think you're swell. I mean, you're a great girl. I, I might be in love with you," he mumbled.

Before I could answer, I saw Ace's car park outside. "Oh shit," I said and got up. "I'm sorry Chris," I said. "I'm really sorry." And with that, I left the diner and met Ace outside. I could see Chris looking at us from inside the diner. I told Ace to get back in the car. Once we were in the car, I told Ace to speak.

"About what?" he asked smiling.

"Cindy," I said looking over to Chris. He was sitting with his friends now. I saw Teddy laughing hysterically.

"You seem nervous Georgie. You scared?" Ace asked putting his arm around me. I took his arm off and said, "I'm not scared, now just tell me about this damn Cindy, and what she has to do with you and my brother."

"Wait a minute," Ace interrupted, "Did your brother tell you about Cindy?"

"No."

"Did he tell you to ask me about Cindy?"

"Yeah, he did."

"That son of a bitch," Ace said quietly.

"What?" I asked. "Tell me Ace!" I shouted.

"You really wanna know? Fine, I'll fucking tell ya. That asshole is gonna pay for this though."

"Come on!" I said hitting him.

"Cindy killed herself, and your brother thinks that it was my fault."

"What?" I asked. "How was it your fault?"

"I don't fucking know, alright? Dammit, I don't know. It wasn't my fault. I didn't tell her to kill herself. It wasn't me. We had a thing one night, that was all. Go ask your fucking brother," he said.

"Ace, please," I sighed.

"Get out of the car Georgie," he ordered. I did what he said and as soon as I got out and shut the door, he speeded away. I just stood there looking at his car going into the distance. I turned back to look at the diner and I saw Chris looking at me. Our eyes met, but I turned around and started walking home. I had to ask Andrew about Cindy.

When I got home, I found Andrew in the kitchen eating something.

"Okay, you gotta tell me because Ace is not being open about this," I said as I sat down on a chair. "He said that it wasn't his fault that Cindy killed herself, and they only had this one thing between them. A one night stand I guess."

As soon as I said that, Andrew started laughing. "Wait," he said. "That's what Ace told you?"

"Yeah," I said. "That, and he's going to kill you for telling me about Cindy."

"That bastard."

"So tell me the whole story," I said to Andrew. Andrew looked at me. Seriously this time. "You sure you're ready to know?" he asked.

"Dammit, yes! They had a one night stand, then Ace probably never called her back. Right?"

"Georgie, they _had _a one night stand, but it wasn't like that. Ace raped her. Ace raped Cindy."

Time stopped. Everything was still. I couldn't think. I didn't know where I was. I didn't know what I was doing. I tried to say something but my voice was trembling. I had to get out of there, I had to be alone. I got up, but I couldn't walk. I fell to the floor and I just couldn't help myself. I started to cry. Andrew kept on talking.

"Cindy was dating my best friend Bobby, and one day, after a party, Cindy was drunk and all, and Ace offered to give her a lift. Bobby was passed out somewhere, and I was too. Then Ace tried to fuck her right in the back seat. Cindy was screaming, fighting to save her fucking honor, but that little son of a bitch kept on covering her mouth. He fucking raped her."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Ace was a rapist? Ace raped someone? This wasn't happening to me. This was all a dream.

"The next day, Cindy was messed up. She told Bobby the whole thing, and Bobby told me so that we'd go beat Ace up. But Cindy wouldn't let us. She said she didn't want anyone else to know. She said we should just let it go. So we did, for Cindy. Everyday at school, when Ace went past her, Cindy would just stop. Right where she was, she'd just stop until Ace would leave. She was scared of him Georgie, she was scared that if she made a single move, Ace would hit her or rape her or whatever. I don't fucking know. A couple of days later, she killed herself. And only me and Bobby knew why. Bobby couldn't handle it. He couldn't be near Ace because he'd kill him. So he left town, and I never heard from him again. I lost my best friend and his girlfriend because of Ace."

"Stop it!" I screamed. "Just shut up!"

"You gotta stop seeing him Georgie. I don't want him hurting you."

"Okay," I said. I got up, and started going to my room. I was tired. I had to lie down for a while.

I had to think.


	15. Finally

I couldn't sleep. I tried to think, but I couldn't. I was just lying in bed staring at the ceiling.

"Ace," I said out loud. "God, Ace."

"_You have to stop seeing him."_

"I have to."

"_You have no choice."_

"I know."

"_It's over. Tell him first thing tomorrow morning."_

"Yeah. I'll get in his car just like I always do and we'll go somewhere quiet and I'll tell him."

"_Don't be a pussy."_

"I'll tell him."

I talked to myself all night and when it was finally time to get up, I gulped down my pill. I got dressed and took a big breath before I left my room. I quickly went down the stairs and exited the house. I didn't want to talk to anyone that wasn't Ace. I sat out on the front porch waiting for a sign of his car.

"Hey Ace, I gotta tell you something. We should break it off. You were right. It ain't gonna work out. You working here, I'll be off in college. We should stop…"

I heard his car coming from the corner as I was practicing my speech. I got up and walked over to the curb. He stopped right in front of me and pushed the door open.

"There's something wrong with the handle, it won't open from the outside. I gotta get that fixed," he said as if nothing was wrong. He said as if he hadn't DONE anything wrong. Suddenly my whole speech left my head. I had no idea what to say to him. How could I confront him with this? As I got in the car I kept repeating to myself "he raped someone, he raped someone, he raped someone." That made my life a little easier.

"Hey Ace?" I managed to say.

"What is it, doll?"

He seemed more charming than ever. Just when everything between us was going so great, I can't believe it was going to end like this. So many thoughts were going through my mind. I didn't know where to start, I didn't know what to say. All I knew was this had to end and it had to end now. So I just blurted everything out. "I know what happened with Cindy and I don't think we can be together anymore." Ace didn't say or do anything. His face was blank, his eyes looking straight ahead. I could see him tighten his grip on the steering wheel. He gulped and said, "Georgie, I don't know what Andrew told you but it's not true. I'm being honest to God here. I wouldn't hurt you. I love you."

I wasn't expecting this. This wasn't my plan. I didn't have anything to say to this. I stared outside, trying to think of something to say. Then I realized.

"Where are we going?" I asked. This wasn't the way to school.

"Somewhere special," he said.

I had no idea where he was taking me. But I wasn't afraid. I decided to sit tight and see where this whole thing was going to go. What could possibly happen? I knew he wasn't going rape me or anything like that. Ace said he loved me and I believed him.

We pulled over in the middle of nowhere and Ace got out the car. He knocked on my window and motioned for me to open the door. I did and he held my hand and took me out of the car. Then he opened the back door and got in the back seat of the car, and so did I. He looked into my eyes but didn't say anything. I was getting a little uncomfortable. I didn't know what his intentions were. Why were we in the back seat of his car and why was Ace acting so strange?

"What's going on Ace?" I asked. He moved closer to me and started kissing me. I stopped him and repeated my question. He didn't answer and instead looked into my eyes, hugged me and started kissing my neck. I couldn't help myself. I loved him so much at that moment. I took his face in my hands and kissed him. Ace started touching my body, and I started touching his. I knew where this was going and I wanted to go through with it. At that moment, I didn't care about what Ace did in the past. We were together now and we were in love, and we were finally going to do something we had wanted to for so long.


End file.
